Sustainable Drainage Systems
Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) can be found in the urban environment as an alternative to traditional overland drainage, water storage and treatment and will become a mandatory requirement for all new developments in England from 2024.
SuDS provide multiple benefits to urban sites and are designed primarily to alleviate surface water flooding, provide biodiversity and amenity benefits and increase the quality of water entering watercourses as it passes out of the development site.
SuDs can also be used to prevent overwhelming close to full capacity sewerage systems and forcing combined sewage overflows (CSO’s) to discharge both storm water and sewerage into waterways.
SuDS are environmentally beneficial, causing no long-term detrimental damage as long as they are managed and maintained correctly.
The Problems
Mandatory for Developments
Surface water is a valuable resource this should be reflected in how all urban developments are designed and developed. SuDs, from 2024 with the review of the Flood and Water Management act 2010, will be a mandatory requirement of all development sites from the beginning of the development process, influencing the design and layout of site.
Without SuDs other site management will need to be put in place to:
- Minimise impervious pavements and infrastructure that can increase run off. As the proportion of impervious area onsite increases so to does run off.
- Reduce the impact of high rainfall events on surface water drainage systems which can easily become overwhelmed. Better design can identify and build in opportunities to divert water to gardens and other impervious structures which reduce localised flooding, sewerage networks becoming overloaded and discharge from combined sewerage overflows into waterways
- Reduce the impact of drain misconnections and pollution from roads, pathways and bad practice. Installing SuDs at the beginning, or retrofitting to existing sites, can reduce the need for expensive maintenance, education programmes and surveying to address these issues.
The Solutions
Multiple Benefits
SuDS are a flexible approach to surface water treatment on development sites providing multiple benefits that can be designed to be both value for money and inspirational.
SUDs can help with:
- Flooding – they can manage the risk of surface water flooding
- Poor water quality – SuDs can reduce the impact of disuse pollution and increase water quality
- water resources – SuDS can help to recharge groundwater supplies and capture rainwater for re-use purposes
At FiveRivers we can provide the full service for your SuDs scheme, from flood risk and flow modelling, through design to construction and then monitoring of the water quality to show the benefits and highlight improvements, all with our in-house team of experts.
Contact us
Talk to an expert in SuDS
Luke Roberts
Construction Manager
Get in touch by either phone or email to speak with Luke and discuss your needs. Alternatively click the button below to complete our contact form.
Telephone: 01722 783 041
Email: sales@five-rivers.com
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